


Look After Your Brother

by GizmoTrinket



Series: Being a Good Big Brother [2]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Colic, Gen, Kid!Lock, Mycroft Being a Good Brother, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Mycroft Holmes, Protective Mycroft, early 80's medicine, early 80's safety
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-21 12:54:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9550079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GizmoTrinket/pseuds/GizmoTrinket
Summary: And there is a whole childhood in a nutshell.





	

William stayed at the hospital until he learned how to breathe and not inhale his food into his lungs. Mycroft had asked the hospital staff and apparently it wasn't uncommon for children of older parents to have this problem; but William had come early, Mycroft figured William wouldn't have decided to be born before he was ready. He wondered if his brother was just stupid. Breathing and drinking shouldn't have to be learned. William took far too much time to learn to do them too. Five weeks he stayed at that hospital! Mycroft had taken to borrowing books out of the medical library to curb boredom; there was only so much time one could stare at a sleeping infant; no matter how much he cared for him. Mycroft took the books to school and read them there to avoid getting into fights.

Mycroft was taken out of class when William was brought home. He was glad, school was supposed to be a place of learning but all he was learning was that other children were stupid and overly emotional. Of course, he also learned that it wasn't acceptable to voice this fact. He learned many other social rules too so his time spent there wasn't a total waste. Fights in the school yard were not particularly enjoyable but Mycroft learned what to watch for and how to avoid them. With Mummy stuck at the hospital his father was called every time Mycroft got into trouble. The headmaster spoke to Father about homeschooling and Mycroft convinced him to sign the papers right there in the office. His classmates and teachers were as happy to see him go as he was to leave. School was an interesting idea but clearly wasn't for him. His father took the car from his school over to the hospital where they waited for Mummy and baby William to be released.

Mummy let Mycroft hold William all the way to the store where they bought a car seat. Then Mycroft was put in charge of monitoring his brother to make sure he kept breathing on the way home. Mycroft found having a baby at home was much more interesting than having a baby in the hospital. William was awake more and Mycroft was allowed to hold him as long as he was awake.

The baby had been home a week when the crying started. Well, crying was one word for it. It was really shrieking until William vomited or finally fell asleep. It never stopped. Mycroft never wanted to go to bed at his bed time but when he wanted to sleep he wanted to sleep for at least six hours before being woken. Sherrinford complained and fought with Mummy about it. He kept saying William was defective and they should return him. Sherrinford brought home adoption papers and left them on top of his report card. He said needed his sleep to get good marks and he couldn't get good marks if he was falling asleep during his classes. Mycroft knew his brother would have gotten poor marks even if he got twelve hours of sleep a night. Mycroft never saw Sherrinford do his homework and he knew he was cutting classes again. But, Father was constantly napping and Mummy tried to reason with Sherrinford but she was exhausted too. One night Sherrinford called to say he was staying at a friend's house until further notice. He wouldn't tell Father which friend, he just hung up. Dad had left to go bring him home so he wouldn't get into trouble and Mummy had held William while he screamed and cried. Mummy had taken William to the doctor after the third day and the doctor said William had colic. Mycroft looked up colic in his books (his parents returned the hospital's copies but bought Mycroft his own) and it was just a fancy word for "screaming a lot for no reason."

Mycroft stared at his little brother, trying to figure out what the doctor couldn't be bothered to. As their mother started to nod off despite the crying Mycroft took the infant from her arms. He hadn't quite mastered holding the infant and his head at the same time with one arm like his parents could so he had to nudge Mummy with his feet and elbows until she got up and went to bed. She tried to argue that Mycroft shouldn't have to stay up with the baby; that she needed to stay up until Sherrinford was found and that she needed to stay by the phone in case someone called. Mycroft cut down all her arguments with logic: Mycroft would be up while William was screaming whether she was up with the baby or not, that she couldn't do anything other than wait by the door and phone until Sherrinford decided to make contact and Mycroft could answer the phone if it rang. He promised to wake her up if anyone phoned or if Sherrinford came home and she fell asleep before she could bother to remove her shoes.

At two in the morning Sherlock finally nodded off and Mycroft got him settled in his cot. He regretted saying he would wait by the door and phone but he had promised. Mycroft fell asleep on the sofa despite his best efforts and was woken up by his father coming home to change before going to work. Mycroft could tell from Father's expression that he hadn't found Sherrinford. Even if Mycroft couldn't read the expression of failure his father slamming the door behind him and throwing his briefcase at the wall would have been more than enough to know. The commotion woke William and Mycroft hurried to his brother. Mycroft had never seen his father so angry before and he was scared. He tried to rock William in his arms thinking the motion would help. But William screamed harder. Mycroft had shut the door hoping that maybe he could quiet his brother before Mummy woke up but William was very loud. Mycroft tried burping him like he'd seen his parent's do but William didn't burp. Finally Mycroft panicked, he could hear his parents yelling. He was scared they'd take William back to the hospital and put him up for adoption or stick him in some institution for defective children. Mycroft set William on the nursery floor, grabbed a blanket, curled his body around his brother then threw the blanket over them both. Mycroft hid under the covers with Sherrinford whenever a bad thunderstorm scared him but Sherrinford wasn't there and thunder didn't scare Mycroft anymore. William sniffled before curling into his brother's chest and falling asleep.

Mycroft heard the nursery door fly open and the blanked was ripped from on top of them. He gripped his brother tighter. "I won't let you take him!" He shouted.

"What?" His father asked tensely.

"I won't! William can be good!" Mycroft understood that logically he couldn't promise that so he added, "Even if he can't I don't have to sleep that much. I can take turns with Mummy." William started to stir so Mycroft shielded his eyes with his shirt. William had let out a cry when his face was uncovered but settled when Mycroft covered him back up.

"Oh, Mykie." Mummy sighed. "Sherlock's not going anywhere. Sherry's just trying to pick fights with us."

Mycroft relaxed, Mummy only used their full names when she was mad at them. The pet names that usually annoyed him were reassuring.

"Be careful, son. Make sure he can breathe." Their father cautioned, folding the blanket over the railing of the cot.

Mummy decided that Mycroft was smothering his brother so she took the baby into her arms. He started wailing immediately.

Mycroft guessed that William didn't like the light so he picked up and threw the blanket. Unfortunately he wasn't very good at sports and blankets were notoriously hard to throw so it ended up smacking into his mother's face.

Mummy understood what he was trying to do and put the blanket over her shoulder like she did when William needed feeding. William fussed a little before quieting down.

"Wow." Father said. "You figured it out. Amazing!"

His father didn't praise him very often anymore. Mycroft enjoyed the admiration to a point but it became embarrassing rather quickly. Plus this time Mycroft felt hadn't earned it yet; he didn't actually know why William wasn't screaming.

After a few experiments over the next few days he decided it was overstimulation. William fell asleep fastest when it was dark, there was a heart beat or other soothing noise and there was a familiar scent to focus on. It took Mycroft quite a few tests to figure this out because sometimes William liked to be difficult and scream for food or attention instead of overstimulation. When he explained this to his parents they agreed but didn't congratulate him. Mycroft was used to Father not understanding when to actually praise his accomplishments and Mummy often tried when he was younger but it wasn't the same. Eventually she gave up.

It was two weeks before the police called to say Sherrinford was in their custody. Mycroft spent the night he came home under the blankets with Sherlock. They listened to recordings of the London Philharmonic that only muffled the words being shouted. It couldn't hide the shouting itself or the sounds of things breaking.

Sherrinford was kicked out of school and he lounged around the house until their father could get him into a different one.

Mycroft told his bother about how he figured out why William was crying.

"Glad you got the little brat to shut up." Sherrinford responded.

Mycroft huffed. Sherrinford usually complimented him whenever he figured something out using the scientific method. The elder brother had taught him it, after all. "He likes me the best. Even more than Mummy." Mycroft bragged, trying to get a positive response.

"I'm sure you'll make an excellent mum one day. Better than ours, anyway." Sherrinford mumbled the last part but Mycroft still heard.

"What's wrong with you?!" He snapped. His older brother was never his cold or mean to him.

Sherrinford sat up and glared at the baby hidden in Mycroft's arms. "It's not me! It's him. Apparently our parents don't have time to deal with me anymore so they're sending me away."

Mycroft frowned. "That can't be true."

"Oh, they told me. They're sending me to boarding school. You'll only see me at Christmas and during the summer. You're still a kid so you can't understand, but you wait. They'll fall head over heels for _Sherlock_..." Sherrinford said William's pet name like it was a curse. "...and they'll have less and less time for you. Eventually they'll send you away. They'll never think to get rid of him. He's just a baby."

"He won't be a baby forever." Mycroft argued.

"Maybe they'll keep you. You've always been well behaved, you get all the praise. You're the favourite." Then Sherrinford's mouth curved into an ugly smile. "For now. Just remember kid, I was the favourite once. Then you came."

Their mother entered on the last part. "Sherrinford! Don't say such things!" Mummy started to yell at the eldest.

Mycroft left, raised voices always upset William.

"You know what he said isn't true, right? We don't have favourites. We love each of you equally." Mummy told him after she finished scolding his brother.

"Of course, Mummy." He agreed to avoid an argument. But Mycroft knew that even though his parents might love them all equally, he was most certainly the favourite.

Mummy must have heard that he didn't believe her in his tone because she continued. "Well, you manage to behave. Your brother..." She sighed dramatically. "I don't know what to do with him sometimes."

It made sense to Mycroft then. Sherrinford couldn't stay out of trouble so they were sending him away. All Mycroft had to do was stay out of trouble.

William started fussing.

And keep William out of trouble. Mycroft mentally added.

 

 

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**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be another one-shot titled Learning to Deduce but my muse decided to have her way with me and now my poor beta gets to be overworked by a multi chapter fic (and it's only the second story). So, a huge thanks to [Jump dimention](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/6938550/) over on ff dot net for betaing even though it's been forever since I last worked on this series.


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